Flushing: Birthplace of Religious Freedom

Open house and guided tours of the Flushing Friend's Meetinghouse, the oldest house of worship in New York, and its association with the 1657 Flushing Remonstrance, a protest movement to resist persecution of religious minorities by the draconian Dutch governor, Peter Stuyvesant, that eventually led to the first successful struggle for religious freedom and precedent for the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Old Quaker Meeting House has been used by Flushing Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends as a house of worship for more than 300 years. The house remains today much as when it was first built, with dark, warm floorboards, simple benches and hand-hewn timber ceiling beams. To step across the threshold is to leave the present behind and to enter a profoundly sacred space seasoned by centuries of devotion. To those who visit, the Meeting House is a peaceful reminder of an eventful and historic past. For more information, go to www.flushingfriends.org.